Break-in for a new 18hp Vanguard

[redhat]

My '84 John Deere 316 originally came with an Onan B43E. After going through a lot of the external stuff with the engine, and getting it running, a consistent metallic colored oil and a rod-knock that appeared once warm and worsened with temp -- I decided to do a motor swap with another John Deere. An '87 316 gave up it's Onan P218G and I swapped it into my '84.

The P218G runs good, but I am having governor issues. I have had the engine in and out three or four times now to address a leaking oil pan and essentially re-gasketing everything except the front and rear covers. I am now having a condition where when I throttle up and am running at high-speeds, the governor will mess up and throw the throttle to WOT -- effectively choking the engine out and stalling it. I have read up on the fixes for this, and while this 800hr Onan will definitely be worthy at some point for another round of "pull-er-out and go-thru it-again", I have elected to call it quits for now.

I bought a house and am closing in the coming weeks, and I have a model 49 blower to go on my 316. In essence of wanting to be good and prepared for the coming lake effect snow, and no garage to work in (I count sunny and mild days as blessings for my projects), I dropped the cash and ordered a brand-new Briggs 18HP Vanguard + Kit from Small Engine Warehouse to drop into my 316. From the reading I've done, the reliability and history of these engines is in a league of it's own.

Break-in wise, I believe I'll drain the oil at 2 hours and install a new filter. I am planning on 5W-40 for this thing. Briggs says SAE30 or 5/10W-30 for colder climates. Then they also recommend 15W-50 for consistent commercial use (running all day). I am thinking the T6 5W-4 will be a good choice.

Any other recommendations on a break-in plan? My goal will then be to go through the Onan P218G and re-do the '87 316 for Dad's summer mowing (whenever he wants to retire one of the 90's Craftsmans with the vertical shaft Kohler Command). I figure, if these Vanguards are as good as they say they are, I should be setting myself up for a good 15-20 year run, especially knowing my strict maintenance.

 

[dwendt44]

5W-30 might work better for initial break in. Cold weather is hard on oil and batteries.
At 2 hours, I'd go with that weight oil for the first change.
When warm temps return in may, change to the 5W-40 then.

Just my 2¢

 

[Oily_Thing]

Why not run 10w30 in it like the manual says?

 

[Tman220]

I can confirm the general reliability of that particular engine. I have the same engine in my lawn tractor with nearly 2000 hours. Burns zero oil, gets 5W30 synthetic year round which is actually the preferred oil for all/most temps. Has never required anything more than basic engine upkeep like oil/filter changes, fuel filter, plugs, etc. Great engines in my opinion.

 

[walterjay]

I use a diet of Synthetic 5-30 in all of my small engines. After years of use they all run like new.

 

[danez_yoda]

And double check the oil filter cross chart. I run a motorcraft FL-400S on my B&S 24HP for the last 100 hours with 5w-30 Pennzoil platinum (same as my truck uses) and the oil is ridiculously clean after a year of running. way overkill but also way cheaper than the B&S filter that comes in a ~ $15 and its a lil bitty thing.

 

[Astro_Guy]

Originally Posted by redhat
Break-in wise, I believe I'll drain the oil at 2 hours and install a new filter.
That seems overly conservative; I think Briggs recommends 5-8 hour IIRC.

Originally Posted by redhat
I am planning on 5W-40 for this thing. Briggs says SAE30 or 5/10W-30 for colder climates. Then they also recommend 15W-50 for consistent commercial use (running all day). I am thinking the T6 5W-4 will be a good choice.
The thing is, you don't typically run a lawn tractor in cold weather. You might run at or near freezing while cleaning up the leaves, but you aren't likely to run it in conditions colder than that. Somehow I doubt that you will be pushing or blowing snow with this 18 HP unit. Synthetic 10w-30 seems to work well for me in my 22 HP B&S V-Twin in a similar climate.

 

[redhat]

I will be blowing snow for sure. Southern tier of Buffalo and all of the lovely cold weather. Maybe even some negative teens.

 

[jeepman3071]

These engines aren't typically picky about oil. Keeping the oil level full and changed at the proper interval is the most important thing. I have customers with commercial mowers that have thousands of hours on them and they change the oil "when they remember" with the cheapest stuff they can get.

I'd run the break-in oil (any cheap 10w30 is fine) for 5 hours or so, then change it. I wouldn't use SAE 30 for a colder climate since it would be thick on startup, especially in the teens. Any good 5w30, 10w30, 0w40 or 5w40 would work well. Lately in my Deere with a Kohler Command V-Twin I've been running Castrol Edge 0w40 year round since it gets used as a snowblowing machine also and have had great results. The machine has a lot of hard hours on it, and the 0w40 Castrol seems to have stopped the small amount of oil consumption it previously had. It is now my go-to oil for my small engines.

Got any pics of the 316? I love that era of Deere garden tractors.